Mother to child transmission of HCV

As with HIV, a baby can catch HCV from his or her mother during pregnancy or at birth.

This risk is 3-4 times higher if the mother has both HIV and HCV (perhaps up to 20% risk).

HIV treatment dramatically reduces the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, regardless of the mother’s hepatitis C status, and it may also lower the risk of HCV transmission.

HCV treatment however, is not possible during pregnancy. This is because one of the HCV drugs (ribavirin) causes birth defects, and the other (interferon) can cause brain and nerve damage in infants less than two years old.

A friend who is co-infected just recently had a child and had to have a Caesarean section because of the HCV (her viral load was undetectable and CD4 count was high – so she could have delivered vaginally) but she was not able to because of HCV.

Planned delivery by Caesarean section (C-section) reduces the risk of mother-to-child HCV transmission among HIV-positive mothers.

UK guidelines (from the British HIV Association) currently recommend planned C-section delivery for mothers with have both HIV and HCV.

i-Base Guide to HIV, Pregnancy and Women’s Health.

One thing that bothers me is that even in the HIV community there is discrimination against drug users… assumptions are often made by other HIV-positive women regarding drug users. Especially if they want to have children … It is the same with some doctors … and sometimes they don’t pass the information that we need…